I'm thinking the same. I have a sturdy "battonable" knife but chose the next size up in the axe - the GB FA - as I have a boat to carry the longer axe in. I figure it might also be slightly safer, in that the head is farther away from me.
*sigh* Which axe?
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I'm thinking the same. I have a sturdy "battonable" knife but chose the next size up in the axe - the GB FA - as I have a boat to carry the longer axe in. I figure it might also be slightly safer, in that the head is farther away from me.
It's the better axe without doubt. The problem is, that it is bigger and heavier. Too heavy to backpack unless you know that you are going into the woods specifically to build a log cabin or something. It's a great axe if you have transport though. This is why I said the OP needs to define what he's going to use it for and how. If it's specifically for backpacking, then an awful lot of very good choices are removed from the list because of size and weight. If it's purely for splitting firewood and not carving, you can again refine the choice down to the smallest, lightest tool that does that job well. If carving is a must, then splitting hatchets are out etc. The GB range are lovely axes, but they are mainly carving/lopping/cross-cutting axes and not the best splitters. If 99% of your needs are going to be simply splitting firewood, then a GB ....good as it is ...may not be the right choice - or at least there might be4 something which is smaller and lighter which makes a better job of splitting firewood, such as....
or...
Obviously going to be rubbish for cross-cutting, but that is why god invented the Silky folding saw.
If you are out in the summer and your need to process large amounts of firewood is not so great, then something else might suffice, or even just a big knife and leave the axe at home. The choices with axes are inseparable from the task you have in mind for them.
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I don't carve so have no idea what to reccomend for that purpose. A bow saw for five quid will cut through a log quicker than an axe and you can baton with a £10 knife. A splitting maul is perhaps more use around camp combined with a saw than an axe IMHO although I do enjoy watching people wacking ten bells out of a bloody great log with an axe, its great fun.
Total agreement Rick. A saw will go through a log many, many times faster with far, far less calories burned, than any axe, knife, kukri, billhook, machete or whatever. Doesnt matter what make or model, cross-cutting wood with an axe is a massively inefficient way of making the log fall in half. If you have a large amount of wood to process, log it up with a saw. If it's firewood and you need to split it, then split it with a dedicated splitting axe or maul.
That said, I dont think I would take a dedicated splitting axe backpacking, it's a bit too task specific.
Have a look at this video...
[video=youtube;6pvv97vPLHk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pvv97vPLHk[/video]
That's a lot of tool for 600g and £30 quid.
Less calories I agree, but I do wonder about speed when I see these fellas go at it with the racing axes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q65hbIyBbdk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q65hbIyBbdk
I've been on the site to buy myselfa husky today and their doesn't seem to be a way to add stuff to your cart? weird, i guess they don't want the money then!! I'll give them a call tomorrow when the wife is out! (When it arrives through the post i'll say santa sent it)
Think thats the same bunch in the link above - gloriously whacky
Need to finish off with a log splitter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bVAAx3mMKY&feature=related
Need to finish off with a log splitter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bVAAx3mMKY&feature=related
Its all good - I like people who do stuff just because they can!
I know two chaps who run huge circular saws (like 30" blades) on old lister engines. Looks like something out of the Waltons, but it gets the job done fast!
I know two chaps who run huge circular saws (like 30" blades) on old lister engines. Looks like something out of the Waltons, but it gets the job done fast!
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
They were standard estate equipment until not long ago I used to use one when I started in forestry. It had a tilting bench on the side for cross cutting logs and flat table for rip-sawing, great tools, fast efficient and could easily be fixed, maintained and sharpened on site.
I love the comment under the log splitting video "look ma no hands"
I used to think that cross cutting with an axe was crazy until I visited an medieval archaological site Novgorod in Russia. All the buildings were log cabin style, no saws everything cross cut with an axe. I realised two things one the axe facets were huge and clean showing that they were taking big clean cuts like the racing axe chaps but I suspect in a more relaxed and efficient manner. Second this was a wood society in which every home had a small open fire for cooking and heating. The chips are not waste product, they are splitting kindling and cross cutting at the same time.
Thats the very thing Robin - with the tilting bench. Really good equipment - more used for firewood now than ripping planks (at least by the guys I know).
One has a spare lister and is trying to talk me into setting up my own.......not sure I have the knowledge to maintain such a thing though.
Is there a proper term for one of them (with the tilting bench etc.)?
Red
One has a spare lister and is trying to talk me into setting up my own.......not sure I have the knowledge to maintain such a thing though.
Is there a proper term for one of them (with the tilting bench etc.)?
Red
Ahhh, but was it by choice? I mean did that medieval society have sufficient quantity and quality of spring steel to make good saws? Even if they had the steel, it's a lot easier to make an axe from a lump of steel than it is to make a big, flat, springy saw.
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There's still the remains of such an operation on one of the islands on Loch Lomond, must remember to get some piccies next time I'm on there.
It's the better axe without doubt. The problem is, that it is bigger and heavier. Too heavy to backpack unless you know that you are going into the woods specifically to build a log cabin or something. It's a great axe if you have transport though. This is why I said the OP needs to define what he's going to use it for and how. If it's specifically for backpacking, then an awful lot of very good choices are removed from the list because of size and weight. If it's purely for splitting firewood and not carving, you can again refine the choice down to the smallest, lightest tool that does that job well. If carving is a must, then splitting hatchets are out etc. The GB range are lovely axes, but they are mainly carving/lopping/cross-cutting axes and not the best splitters. If 99% of your needs are going to be simply splitting firewood, then a GB ....good as it is ...may not be the right choice - or at least there might be4 something which is smaller and lighter which makes a better job of splitting firewood, such as....
[images removed]
Obviously going to be rubbish for cross-cutting, but that is why god invented the Silky folding saw.
If you are out in the summer and your need to process large amounts of firewood is not so great, then something else might suffice, or even just a big knife and leave the axe at home. The choices with axes are inseparable from the task you have in mind for them.
I tend to agree. I also have a folding saw, but it's one of them collapsible aluminium frame saws with a wooden handle.
I usually use the axe to strip the wood for branches etc., and the saw to cut it to perfect length for my firebox, and then - depending on the diameter of the logs, I will either split it with my knife and a rock or hammer, or will use the axe. I actually prefer to baton the knife to split the wood, because its much safer. But for my diameters of wood, splitting with the GB forest axe is easy enough.
With regards to weight, I think the heads on the FA and the SFA are the same (??), but only the shaft is longer. It looked like that in shop, anyway. So theextra weight is only that of the longer handle. But it's long - Way too long to be backpacking with.
I think the FA is about 1/2lb heavier than the SFA and as you say, a good bit longer.
With regard to saws, if you get chance have a look at a Silky Fox, it might change the way you view saws, they did for me anyway....
[video=youtube;tyyus8_d1Uo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyyus8_d1Uo[/video]
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No, no, I think very highly of saws. I like saws and they are really safe compared to axes. My frame saw is pretty good, actually and I like it.
This is the one I have:
http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/quick_buck_saw.html
This is the one I have:
http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/quick_buck_saw.html
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Good question Martyn. Truth is very little we do is "by choice" we just do what our parents generation did and try to improve it a bit if we can. Major turn arounds like changing from axes to saws are rare. Having said that it is easy in our disposable society to praise the saw. If I get 5 years occasional use out of a silky I would be happy. The folk woodworking in Novgorod were cutting serious volume and forging and maintaining their own. Not many folk these days can sharpen a saw I expect there are only a few dozen smiths in Japan that forge them. I don't think it is about quantity of steel. It takes more carbon steel to make a good axe than to make a good saw.
